When that door opened she came barreling at me, 30lbs of wriggling affection. Crouching, I had no idea that I should have been leaning into our first embrace.
Burying her face in my stomach and curling into a boxer style "u-shape" she soaked up as many cuddles as she could while wiggling uncontrollably.
This lil girl wasn't the English bulldog I was expecting but was everything I was looking for in a dog.
She follows people, loves attention and is half the breed I wanted and half boxer, like our friend and role model Roxy. This little pup is incredible! ...wheres the clerk? ... SOLD!
It wasn't long before she was established in her forever home and experiencing most of life's joys for the first time. Slowly, increasingly and unfortunately we started experiencing something new. Haters. For a lack of better words. People who would yell out things like "I KNOW these dogs! they're dangerous!", "That dog is ILLEGAL!" and "That dog is VICIOUS!". Wow, this sucks...
One guy crossed 4 lanes of traffic on foot to cut me off on the sidewalk and start yelling at me for having an illegal and dangerous dog.
I'm blessed that Brooklyn is so patient and will wait while I debate it out with someone who is obviously acting aggressive and domineering towards us and our previously calm walk.
Cutting down on the side-walk-ing we started to hit the Humber trail. What a beautiful space to walk -the trails are endless, the forests are full of life and the river is my new pups favorite place to drag around branches and dive for rocks. In my opinion she gets more exercise / out of life when she can play in places like the river, smelling and diving about. That's also what I enjoy most about having dogs, is watching them explore and experience life.
Up until the nay sayers come "barking" about the cops are coming to take my "pit bull" puppy away.
Again, Brooklyn must wait until our aggressive breed debate is over and she does so quietly.
The police come, they see licenses and paperwork and they usually end up reaming someone for wasting their and the 911 emergency lines time.
The Breed Specific Legislation came into effect here in Ontario on August 29th 2005. At the time I couldn't have imagined how much of an impact this would have on my everyday life. 7 years later things haven't changed much, from the medias fear inducing reports, to boxer owners being harassed by good, but misinformed people, trying to keep a safe dangerous dog free neighborhood.
I've been pulled over and questioned. I've been told to leave an empty park. I've been singled out, accused loudly and publicly. I've been told I cannot tie my dogs up and leave them as they will "attack someone" all the while they sit and wait to continue on with our walks.
There are still assertive-dominant and very fearful dogs out there living in their anxious bubbles. We see them all the time on our walks and park visits. The overlooked information is in a dogs energy, consequent behavior and the owner-dog relationship. Does the farm dog ever get to run? Does the hunting dog ever get to track? With proper behavioral education, spading and neutering programs, RECORD KEEPING and owner competence licensing I believe we as dog owners could have a better, more well informed relationship with the rest of society, BSL and MOST importantly bite free.
I write this in response to the kind lady on the phone at the animal control office. When I called to pay again for a license I already had (whole other story) she was more than eager to tell me that from the statistics (whole other story -again) and from the information I provided to her about my puppy, prove that I own illegal pit bulls -even though they are clearly registered and neither have any "pit bull" in them.
Anyone that knows me can tell you that I spend a world of time with our dogs. Exercising, training and reading about their needs, nutrition and behavior in any free time I have.
When it comes to the consequences faced, I TOO find the words "pit bull" a substantial threat.
Dog owner or not, we are all affected negatively by the misinformation this law is based on.
Bring the truth to the table.
